Dust guard



F. V. CHANEY Jan. 10, 1933.

DUST GUARD Filed April 14. 1927 fizgl known leather-board fibre.

Patented Jan. 10, 1933 PATENT OFFICE FRANKLIN V. CHANEY, OF BOSTON,

MASSACHUSETTS, AssIen'oR r0 DUST GUARDS,

INC., A CORPORATION or ILLINOIS DUST GUARD Application filed April 14,

The present invention relates to an improvement in dust guards.

The object of the invention is to produce a stiff, strong and tough guard of inexpensive construction and durable quality, and to this end the invention consists in the guard hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation of a dust guard; Fig. 2 is an edge view of the guard; Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line 2-2, Fig. 1, showing the condition of the fibreboard tongue of the new guard before use; and Fig. l is a similar sectional view after the guard has been in use.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is described as follows: The guard is made of two outside layers of wood veneer 10. Veneer wood made from birch, beech or maple, is suitable wood for this purpose; they are rather close'gra-ined, strong woods. Any suitable veneer wood may be used. Between these layers is a layer of fibreboard 11, which may conveniently be made of the well- Any fibreboard having toughness, strength and capable of being distorted in form by pressure is suitable fibreboard for use in the manufacture of this dust guard. Leather fibreboard is especially suitable because it has considerable tensile strength, being tough, and by reason of the fact that its fibres are animal fibres, it may be distorted by pressure in use to adapt it to the form most suitable for efficiently performing the work intended; that is to say, conferring resiliency and tensile strength to the structure, and at the same time offering a non-abrasive bearing for the axle.

The three layers are provided with concentric holes, but the hole in the fibreboard layer is made slightly smaller than the holes in the two layers of wood veneer, as a result of which the inner edge of the fibreboard layer presents an inwardly projecting tongue 12., which extends inward beyond the surfaces of the holes in the outer layers. In use the movements of the guard with respect to the axle cause the tongue to be flattened or mushroomed outover the inner edges of the two outer layers of the wood veneer, as shownthe wood has cracked with the guard of the 1927. Serial no. 183,640.

in Fig. 4:. The tongue is, therefore, mushroomed outwardly and protects the axle from direct engagement of the wood therewith. The form of the mushroomed tongue 13 is substantially asshown in Fig. 4. The several layers of the dust guard are united by wire fasteners 14. The form of fastener shown is a fastener ordinarily employed in binding books and pamphlets, and the machine by which these fasteners are applied is called a wire stitching machine. The fastener consists of wire staples formed in the machine as used, which are driven through the several layers from one side and clinched on the opposite side. A good form of arrangement of the fasteners is that shown in Fig. 1, in which four are employed alongthe upper edge of the guard, and 12 are employed around the axle opening. These latter staples or fasteners are arranged at to the radius connecting them with the center of the axle opening. Thus the legs of only two of the fasteners penetrate the wood upon the same line of the grain, assuming the grain to be straight and to extend from top to bottom of the guard.

It will be observed that the Wire fasteners permit small relative movements of the dust guard parts upon each other, thereby contributing to the resiliency of the guard as a whole, that the wood layers contribute stiffness, and that the fibre layer contributes tensile strength, toughness and flexibility.

This guard has distinct advantages over prior dust guards wherein three layers of wood are employed, in which two of the layers have the grains at right angles to the grain of the third. In such case, under the blows and stresses of use, the guards are apt to be cracked, and at the sides of the guard just below the center of the axle opening the guard is liable to be broken with an intersecti'ng, overlapping break, as a result of which, when the car on which the guard is N used is shopped, replacement of the guard is necessary; whereas, in the present construction, until the wood breaks or cracks, the wood layers strengthen and stiffen the guard and support it in position. But even after present application, the parts do not separate as they are securely united together by means of the intermediate layer of fibreboard. Besides, in the case of wood guards the axle is exposed to the direct engagement of the Wood therewith, which, owing to its roughnesses, is liable to collect abrasives which will in time out the axle, whereas in the present case the mushroomed fibreboard tongue which extends over the principal part of the area of the inside of the axle hole, presents to the axle a non-abrasive bearing.

The guard needs no cement or glue to hold the layers together. The manufacture is accomplished at the stitching machine by associating the several layers together and presenting them to the machine to drive the staples through the several layers whereby they are securely unit-ed together, but in a manner which permits some relative movement of the parts and greater flexibility of the whole.

It is preferred that after the guard has been assembled it should be dipped in paraflin or other unguentous material such as a mixture of parafiin and rosin or a sodium silicate bath in order to give the guard a coating of lubricating material which will facilitate movement of the guard in the dust guard recess of the axle box, and which will afford the preliminary lubrication between the guard and the axle until the pressure of the axle on the guard shall mushroom the tongue of fibreboard so as to cause it to spread out over pretty much the whole of the inner surface of the axle hole to thereby afford a wide hearing for the guard on the axle.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A dust guard for car axles consisting of two outer layers of wood and an intermediate coextensive layer of tough fibreboard secured together only by fasteners, the two wood layers being of uniform thickness and provided with registering axle holes of the same size and the fibre layer being of uniform thickness and having an axle hole concentric therewith but somewhat smaller to provide an inwardly projecting fibre tongue to engage the axle, the tongue being mushroomed outwardly in use over the inner surfaces of the holes in the wood layers and offering a nonabrasive bearing to the axle, the wood layers stiffening and strengthening the guard and the fibre layer acting to prevent separation of the dust guard parts in case of fracture.

2. A dust guard for car axles consisting of two outer layers of wood and an intermediate coextensive layer of tough fibreboard secured together by wire fasteners only, the two wood layers being of uniform thickness and provided with registering axle holes of the same size and the fibre layer being of uniform thickness and having an axle hole concentric therewith but smaller to provide an inwardly signed my 

